So Day 21 - three weeks post-op already! I went to the orthodontist on this day. She seemed pleased with everything and then asked the other ortho man (I'm never sure if he's a surgeon or an ortho, but apparently he works out the measurements to move the jaw), and when he looked in my mouth he said 'Perfect'! He took some photos of my mouth and then of my face, and he said it couldn't be any better and that he's really pleased for me. They said that my swelling will continue to decrease, that my mouth will open more and my smile will get better. They also said that my lip 'still needs to settle' - I assume they meant my top lip because it is still a bit swollen and is kind of tucked under if you know what I mean. But all in all they said it was really good, and he said that I should only need the braces until 3 or 4 months post-op, so according to my calculations that means I should have them off by the end of January! But I won't count on it... Anyway, the ortho changed my bands, so I now have a band that goes from my last bottom tooth, up to my last top tooth, then along to my canine, and then down to the bottom again, so it's kind of like a rectangle on each side. I now don't have any on the front so I can open my mouth a bit more, but still need to take my bands off to eat.
On this day I also saw my dad for the first time since surgery. He lives on the Isle of Wight and I live in Kent so I don't see him that often. His reaction was 'But that's not Little S' (Little S is his nickname for me!), but he didn't mean it in a bad way, he just meant that I look different. But he did say that it looked good and I think he got used to it over the few days that he was here!
When I was at the orthodontist I seemed to be laying back on the chair for ages and this seemed to put pressure on my left TMJ. Then for the rest of the day it was really achey! All the talking to my dad and sister probably didn't help, but it was really aching all night.
Day 21 was also another milestone... I ate in public for the first time! Me and my dad and sister went out for dinner. I had a mushroom risotto and I managed to eat about half of it! I even ate a bit of garlic bread, I just picked out some soft bits and mushed them up in my mouth! Then for dessert I had a lemon sundae, and I ate all of that!
When we were at the restaurant we bumped into my cousin who I don't see very often. I didn't know whether to mention my face or not, but I just said 'I've just had my operation so I'm a bit swollen at the moment', and she just said 'Oh yeah, Nan and Granddad said about it, you had your jaw broken or something?' so I just said 'Yeah', I couldn't be bothered to explain further!
Anyway I think that was all the events of Day 21! Here are my photos...
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